dot   Home     World     Euro 2008     Euro 2008  
Flag Euro 2008

Euro 2008

Five Players (Probably) Taking a Final Bow at Euro 2008

   

Thuram to retireEuro 2008 will likely be the end of the international road for several players on the wrong side of 30. And Castrol have come up with a little list of the five players most likely to hang up their international boots when the final whistle blows in Swissaustria.

So prepare to get teary eyed as we (probably) wave a final farewell to:


Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
The Italian captain is 34 years old and already has a World Cup winners medal somewhere in his trophy cabinet. And after his incredible defensive performances in Germany, his international legacy is assured. Whoever replaces Cannavaro in the Azzuri defence will almost definitely be taller (he’s only about 5′9″) but they’ll have some big boots to fill.

Nuno Gomes (Portugal)
Pauleta’s replacement as Portugal’s lone striker, is only 31 years old. So it might be a bit soon to talk about him retiring. Plus Portugal aren’t as deep with strikers as they are elsewhere, so don’t be hugely surprised to see a 33 year old Gomes at World Cup 2010.

Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands)
Though currently injured, the gangly 37 year old keeper has been in great form for Man Utd this season. He’s already announced that he’ll retire from Oranje duty post-Euro 2008, so this will be his final chance to win something on the international stage.

Hakan Şükür (Turkey)
The proud owner of the fastest goal in World Cup finals history (11 seconds vs South Korea at World Cup 2002) Şükür is now 36 years old. Known as “King” back home he’s still scoring goals for Galatasaray (though he’s apparently leaving at the end of the season) and has been playing for the national team since way back in 1992. He hasn’t officially announced any retirement plans, but at 36 he has to be getting there.

Lilian Thuram (France)
Thuram is 36 years old now and has already retired once. And when Raymond Domenech persuaded him to lace up the international boots again for World Cup 2006 he probably didn’t expect to wear them all the way to Euro 2008 as well. Thuram definitely has nothing to prove, with a World Cup winners medal from 1998 and Euro medal from 2000. No harm in showing up for one more international tournament though.


Subscribe

 

rss icon UEFA Euro 2008 Championships RSS Feed

Print

Share

Comments
By princedesparcs | March 18th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Top

While 30 is something of an arbitrary threshold for international duty, it’s not hard to assume that we could see five from just the French NT hang up their Bleus boots — regardless of how the team fares at the Euro: the aforementioned Thuram, Makelele, Gallas, Vieira, and perhaps even Sagnol and Henry. But meanwhile … Allez!

Posted from United States United States

By uefaeuro08 | March 18th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Top

A- 1stSwiss
2 turkey
3 cech
4 port

—————-swiss
————— germany
——————————–swiss
b1 croatia
2germany
3austria
4poland
———————————–croatia
———————croatia
——————–turkey
c1holland
2 romania
3france croatia wins euro2-0
4italy
——holland—————————spain
d
1russia
2spain russia
3sweden
4grecce
———————————-russia
—————-russia
—————-romaina

By Greg | March 19th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Top

I hope that Nuno Gomes doesn’t see the light of day on that pitch. Can’t they play something like a 4-6-0? Someone invent this now!

Posted from United States United States

By Musab | March 25th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Top

Man, Hakan Sukur. What can I say about such a legend. I grew up watching him score and he still is getting the goals for Galatasaray and Turkey.

And to Greg; I really hope Nuno plays against Turkey, makes our job a hell of alot easier! ;)

Posted from United States United States

Comments are closed

 

MORE EURO 2008 BLOGS

austria
Austria World Cup Blog
111 articles | 118 comments
 
croatia
Croatia World Cup Blog
201 articles | 1,850 comments
 
czechrepublic
Czech Republic World Cup Blog
196 articles | 322 comments
 
france
France World Cup Blog
993 articles | 12,643 comments
 
germany
Germany World Cup Blog
687 articles | 5,278 comments
 
greece
Greece World Cup Blog
205 articles | 217 comments
 
italy
Italy World Cup Blog
1,028 articles | 32,761 comments
 
netherlands
Netherlands World Cup Blog
2,516 articles | 63,495 comments
 
poland
Poland World Cup Blog
489 articles | 7,787 comments
 
portugal
Portugal World Cup Blog
547 articles | 9,427 comments
 
romania
Romania World Cup Blog
78 articles | 281 comments
 
russia
Russia World Cup Blog
110 articles | 366 comments
 
spain
Spain World Cup Blog
347 articles | 3,327 comments
 
sweden
Sweden World Cup Blog
226 articles | 385 comments
 
switzerland
Switzerland World Cup Blog
270 articles | 452 comments
 
turkey
Turkey World Cup Blog
49 articles | 314 comments
 
euro2008
UEFA Euro 2008 Championships
546 articles | 76,479 comments
 

CATEGORIES & ARCHIVES

 

 
Closer

International Football Jerseys
Bet on International Football
Football Tickets
Noticias de Futbol
Tournaments
Euro 2012 Qualifying
Africa Cup of Nations 2012
UEFA Champions League
Europa League

Follow WorldCupBlog on Facebook   Follow WorldCupBlog on Twitter  
World Cup Resources
World Cup History
World Cup Legends
World Cup Memorable Moments
World Cup Photos
World Cup Videos